KATRINA, WHACKO-JACKO, OJ AND KOBE; OR: WHAT'S RACE GOT TO DO WITH IT!?

(CNN) --

White and black Americans view Hurricane Katrina's aftermath in starkly different ways, with more blacks viewing race as a factor in problems with the federal response, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday. The poll found that six in 10 blacks interviewed said the federal government was slow in rescuing those stranded in New Orleans after Katrina because many of the people in the Louisiana city were black. But only about one in eight white respondents shared that view. The numbers were similar on whether the rescues were slower because the victims were poor, with 63 percent of blacks blaming poverty and 21 percent of whites doing so. [...] Among blacks, only 15 percent said Bush did a good job in the initial days after Katrina, and 36 percent thought he did a good job in recent days. The number for whites was 49 percent for the initial days and 63 percent more recently.

IOW: 60% of Blacks INITIALLY felt that the feds were slow, and that this slowness was due to racism. Hhile only 12% of Whites felt this way - five times more.

Is this RACIAL DIVIDE Bush's fault? OR IS IT A LONGSTANDING DIVIDE EXPLOITED BY DEMOCRAT DEMAGOGUES (in the case of Katrina and the enduing rescue and recovery effort)?

Let's look at the facts - by comparing the racial divide on Katrina to previous issues which divided America along racial lines:

According to HARRIS POLLS:

(1) DO PEOPLE THINK MICHAEL JACKSON IS GUILTY OR INNOCENT
"The singer Michael Jackson has been charged with child molestation.

Do you think he is probably guilty or not?" [Base: All Adults]:

PROBABLY GUILTY
White 55%
Black 15%

PROBABLY NOT GUILTY

WHITE 19%

BLACK 59%

(2) DO PEOPLE THINK KOBE BRYANT IS GUILTY OR INNOCENT

"The basketball player Kobe Bryant has been charged with rape. Do you think he is probably guilty or not?" [Base: All Adults]:

PROBABLY GULITY

WHITE 33%

BLACK - 19%

PROBABLY NOT GUILTY

WHITE 25%

BLACK 58%

(3) MSNBC POLL:

Q1: From what you've heard, do you think O. J. Simpson murdered Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman?

WHITE Yes 77% NO 29%
BLACK Yes 22% NO 70%

The divide on these previous matters were all quite pronouced along RACIAL lines. And the racial divide with regard to Katrina is in line with the racial divide on other issues which have NOTHING to do with Bush; in fact; the OJ trial took place during the Clinton years.

THEREFORE: the racial divide is a longstanding issue that has NOTHING to do with Bush or his administration's efforts the last five years - or the federal response to Katrina. Polls reveal that many people are merely responding in knee-jerk ways and using RACE as an excuse, as if the Hurricane did more damage to one race than another race, and as if 1st responders used race to pre-select who'd they rescue. WHICH - TO ANYONE WHO WATCHED THE RESCUES - IS ABSURD AND FALSE.

FURTHERMORE: the politicians who argued and harangued against the federal response and said that it was faulty due to racism are nothing more than mendacious demagogues exploiting and exacerbating a pre-existing racial divide in this country for their own selfish political ends.

THE POLITICIANS WHO MADE THE GROUNDLESS ALLEGATIONS WERE ALL LEFTISTS PLAYING THE "RACE CARD" - AND MAKING THE RACIAL DIVIDE WORSE! They have no shame.

UPDATE: some of my regular moonbat commentors have accused me of being a GOP racist. I responded in the comments but feel it may be necessary to put them here, too:

By your idiotic comments, you Leftie commentors make the best case AGAINST Leftism! You idioitic Leftie guys say i am a racist. Well, that 's pure bullshit, and NOTHING i said was racist. Here are the facts:

(1) My first girlfirend was black
(2) I marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - who is my #1 HERO!
(3) i even supported the BLACK PANTHER PARTY in the 1970's (tho that's something I am ashamed of now!)
(4) AND: I'm a registered DEMOCRAT - and have been since 1974!
(5) If i am a racist then BILL COSBY IS A RACIST because he makes the SAME argument as me: that knee-jerk party affiliation and the welfare state and low expectations WITHIN the black community have contributed to slow economic growth of that community.

Also: my post was about perceptual differences between blacks and whites - about the racial divide. I argued IT EXISTS and that events are often put into that pre-existing "story template," rather than examined according to the actual facts. That's why the polls for OJ/Jacko/Kobe and Katrina are so similar! If people looked at the actual facts - and did not ignore facts which don't fit their story template - then they'd agree more often.

Lookit: OJ was guilty, but blacks who had a story template that said "policemen are racist and try to frame blacks" ignored the facts in the trial - (which made OJ's guilt obvious) - and believed that oj's lawyers had raised reasonable doubt. A similar thing happened with regard to KATRINA: many blacks (and many BDS libs like my Leftie commentors) interpreted events through their story-template.

They ignore facts - that (a) the city of N.O. ignored its own evacuation plan, and that Nagin had the power and means/buses to evacuate EVERYBODY, and that (b) Blanco prevented the resupply of the Superdome and the convention Center, and that (c) FEMA guidelines tell EVERY state and locality to be prepared to handle emergencies ALONE (without FEMA aid) for the first 72-96 HOURS! (and that "a-b-c" list is just for starters!).

ALSO: blacks in Nawlins and elsewhere reflexively vote Democrat even tho' Dems have OVER AND OVER AGAIN let them down - Dems like Nagin and Blanco. Dems and Blacks have run Nawlins for 35 years - during which time THEY IGNORED THE POOR BLACKS AND POOR BLACK NEIGHBORHOODS IN THEIR OWN CITY! The poorest neighborhoods in Nalwins DON'T EVEN GET PATROLLED BY THE N.O.P.D.! And the NOPD is run by BLACKS! One reason that the poor balck people in Nawlins are so VICTIMIZED by crime is because the NOPD - run by blacks - and the city gov't - run by black DEMS - have been able to ignore them because the poor blacks vote with the MACHINE.

MANY MANY MANY political analysyts and BLACK LEADERS have argued that blacks would have MORE POLITICAL POWER - and get better and more effective GOVERNMENT RESULTS - (like better schools and more police in their neighborhoods) - if they DID NOT all vote Dem all the time - BECAUSE THEN BOTH PARTIES WOULD HAVE TO VIE/COMPETE FOR THEIR VOTE AND THEY WOULD GET MORE. Then, instead of getting a black mayor like Nagin (and Morial and Barthelemy and Morial before that - who have each done SHIT for them - they'd get a responve accountable government - WHICH THEY - like all Aericans - deserve! It was NAGIN - a BLACK MAYOR - who IGNORED the desperate people in the Superdome and allowed them to stay in HIS SH--TY, INSECURE, IMPROPERLY SUPPLIED SHELTERS!

BOTTOM-LINE: NOTHING - that's n-o-t-h-i-n-g I have said is RACIST. I want EMPOWERMENT for ALL PEOPLE - INCLUDING BLACK. I am arguing that blacks have been ILL-SERVED by the "welfare state" and the likes of Sharpton and Jesse Jackson and Nagin and Blanco. I am arguing that blacks have been ill-served by their own reflexive connection the Democrats and to "story templates" which prevent them from coming up with effective policies - because NO effective policy can come from a faulty analysis of a problem, and "story templates" prevent good analysis. "Story templates" only reinforce pre-extisting stereotypes.

UPDATE: HERE'S LIFT FROM LORIE AT POLIPUNDIT -

Katrina – “To Cleanse”

This post by Greg Hanke at Impacted Wisdom Truth was inspired by Black Con’s comment here last night which was also the subject of a post here. Hanke writes:

Well now, it becomes clear even to slow-wits like me. The bitter accusations against the Bush administration were a preemptive strike against Bush, and the inroads Republicans have made in the African-American community. I think what the lefties fear is, African-Americans will see that this Republican administration did a better job helping them than the local and state governments, which would cause the wrath of the electorate to fall onto the Democrat party.

So the Democrats had to resort to the lowest of tactics to keep their African-American voters in line by inoculating them with inflamed accusations of racism. Of course, this only works so well. The people blitzed by Katrina know full well that their local governmental authorities let them down. Only time will tell what effect that will have on elections, if any. But the intent of all the vitriol is clear: keep victims, mostly African-American, from viewing Republicans in a positive light by blaring shrill accusations that the “slow” Federal response to Katrina was the fault of a Republican administration full of racists…“Katrina” comes from the Greek word that means “pure” or “to cleanse.” Another word that emerges from that root is “catharsis.” Katrina may indeed help cleanse the state of Louisiana, and trigger a larger catharsis that removes some Democrat influence in the nation at large.

Update: Just to make it clear, the “cleansing” I think he is referring to, and which I agree with, is not of Democrats from Louisiana, at least not in reference to Democrats leaving the state. Instead I believe we may be seeing a cleansing of Democrat group think and of misconceptions that many in Louisiana may have about the Democrat and Republican parties, the roles and functions of local, state and federal government, the welfare entitlement mentality (with the ownership society incentives proposed by the President) and about the President, Governor and Mayor personally. At least I hope that is the case. This “cleansing” will have to come from the observations of the people themselves as the recovery and rebuilding takes place. If they rely on the media, it will never happen. -- Lorie Byrd Posted at 11:08 am Link to this post Comments (11)